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A desperate Long Island mom strapped for drug funds and Christmas-gift cash was arrested yesterday after pulling her third bank heist in less than a month, police said.

Bernadette Mile, the mother of a 6-year-old girl, told police that she needed the money for Christmas gifts, a car for her boyfriend, and drugs.

Mile, 28, of Farmingville, handed a note to a bank teller at the HSBC bank in Lake Ronkonkoma at 1:30 p.m. yesterday threatening to use a gun if she didn’t get the cash, police said. She never did have a gun.

The teller filled up a bag with money but managed to slip in a dye pack that exploded minutes after Mile left the bank.

A retired Nassau County police officer, off the force for only two weeks, was in the bank as the robbery took place.

He suspected something was awry, and followed Mile outside of the bank. It was then the red dye pack exploded.

The ex-cop followed Mile’s car to Huntington before losing her in thick holiday traffic.